Blockchain Goes From Strength to Strength in Asia and Beyond

It has long been predicted that it doesn’t really matter what happens to crypto now; blockchain is here to say. The technology that underpins Bitcoin and its buddies represents a new level of opportunity for businesses looking to improve security, cut down on fraud and avoid the criticism that comes with centralization, monopolies and the use of customer data. Over the last two years, we’ve seen the financial services industry, gaming, supply chain in a number of markets, banking and lending, education and even the arts become disrupted by innovative blockchain startups looking to cash in on a new technology that many prominent experts and tycoons are saying could change the world in a way reminiscent to the advent of the Internet itself.

No area in the world has been consumed by blockchain mania more than Asia. While China has taken a tough stance on cryptocurrencies as a whole and South Korea has clamped down on ICOs and anonymity on exchanges, the jobs market for blockchain industries has gone from strength to strength. Now, Indeed have released statistics that show that the number of jobs in blockchain in Asia has risen dramatically since the final quarter of 2017, when, of course, Bitcoin, Ethereum and the rest were enjoying a massive boom themselves.

But unlike the crypto counterpart, the blockchain jobs industry continued to rise to a peak in June this year, far exceeding any crypto achievements. And an Indeed spokesperson told CNBC: “The situation in Asia seems to mirror the U.S. in that bitcoin [job search] trends are much more volatile (and related to price volatility) and resulting media coverage while blockchain and cryptocurrency searches have seen a more consistent upwards trajectory”.

Of course, we are at a unique point in history right now, in that blockchain is still so new that most people taking jobs in the sector have come from the mainstream world, meaning that they are having to apply their experience of other sectors to blockchain and use initiative as well as doing a vast amount of learning on the job. This “newness” will have caused a considerable spike, as people move across. But in a few years, when the market has stabilized, will there start to be movement back the other way, or will blockchain be so established that movement between roles is blockchain-to-blockchain, so to speak?